Celestial Heart (A Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 26: In the Hopes of Closure...

Winter's POV

I exhaled a quiet sigh, not quite in the mood to obnoxiously annoy Lucy. Speaking of, my sis sat at her desk, scribbling away at a letter she'd marked To Mom. It wasn't the first; certainly wouldn't be the last. Luce liked to keep Mom updated on our misadventures. Sometimes, I doubted she cared all that much about the little squabbles we had, like the time Lucy had detailed a letter to her describing how I'd "vandalized" one of her shirts by tearing off one of the sleeves.

It had been an accident (I assure you I'm not lying) and yet it had still devolved into a useless argument between the two of us.

Then again, maybe Mom did get a kick out us fighting like toddlers. Might've reminded her of the good ol' days.

I shifted the arm I'd tossed over my eyes, peeking at Lucy's progress. From the way the paper was positioned, she'd almost finished, her quill moving slower as her thoughts raced. Living with her for seventeen years, I'd picked up on her little quirks, and knew that she was contemplating something she'd rather erase from her memory.

A memory of Dad, maybe? I mused, sliding my arm down again so as to block out the world. To my displeasure, this gesture didn't succeed in blocking out unwanted thoughts.

Dammit, Dad... You really went too far this time. There were so many other ways to handle it, so many other roads you coulda taken. I mean, I knew you were always a little prone to violence. I guess I have you to thank for that, after all... But this was outta hand on some extreme level I can't even fathom. 

Images of the ruined guild flashed just behind my closed eyelids, lighting up the welcoming darkness with bloody shades that stained my sought-after peace. One second, everyone - Erza, Natsu, Gray, Master, Loke, Levy - was smiling, happy, at-ease; the next... another bloodbath. The shivers crawling up and down my spine, the way my thoughts continually came back to one point - it was obvious. 

This was going to happen again, and again, and again - until Daddy got what he wanted.

Trapped in my frazzled mind, it barley registered when the chair scraped backwards and Lucy stood, her footsteps quick and purposeful as she made her way to the cabinet not too far away from her writing desk. It opened, followed by a short burst of unreasonable amounts of shuffling paper, then shut with an ominous clack. She didn't move for a while from what I could hear.

Remember, now, no twin telepathy, but that didn't meant I wasn't aware of when my twin was hurting.

I was up from the couch and pulling her into a hug before my name had even left her lips.

"Winter," she coughed, her throat tight with worry, "we can't leave this alone... He's just going to--"

"I got it," I sighed, dropping my forehead against her shoulder, my own shoulders drooping with unyielding weariness. I'd had enough of running. If Dad was gonna give chase, we'd just have to turn around and stand toe-to-toe with him again. He was too headstrong to understand anything otherwise. "We'll go back, because we're sure as hell not letting our guild come under fire again."

"Wait." Lucy put her hands on my shoulder, gently pushed me away. "You're not doing this, not again," she told me firmly, shaking her head. Her eyes reflected my own perfectly, and I had to wonder which of us looked more distraught. "It's just me he wants to see, Winter."

A smirk turned up one corner of my mouth, and I swatted off Lucy's hands so that I could clasp one between us, inching forward to look down my nose at her. "Exactly" - I squeezed her hand more fiercely - "I'm going just to give him hell."